The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

This folder is intended to be sort of like a 'group notepad.' A place where we can list and briefly describe books, or short story collections that we've encountered, and think that other members may be interested in. If you read a book recently and reviewed it on Goodreads, feel free to tell us about it and leave a link to your review. Over time, I think this could be a fun folder to visit!

Also, I want to encourage all of you to add books to the group's 'Bookshelf.' I'll wager that we'll all find books there that we haven't read, and maybe didn't even know about. In my opinion, the 'Bookshelf' should really reflect all of us and our varied interests.

The bookshelf I assume would be the place for 1800-1910 books or recent works discussing them. But is this thread open to any and all books ...as long as we enjoyed them?

Jan wrote: "The bookshelf I assume would be the place for 1800-1910 books or recent works discussing them. But is this thread open to any and all books ...as long as we enjoyed them?"

You are absolutely correct, Jan. Tell us about what you're reading, and why you think we might like them too. We are here to share with one another, and I can't think of a better way to discover new books than to hear what all of you have been recently reading.

Not by any means a great book, but an extremely enjoyable one for booklovers is Christopher Morley's Parnassus on Wheels. A very pleasant afternoon's diversion.

This thread needs some life, but I can't imagine we've omitted much from our bookshelf.

Tales of Men and Ghosts, by Edith Wharton (1910,) including Afterward, the story we're reading this month.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/95...

Rochelle wrote: "This thread needs some life, but I can't imagine we've omitted much from our bookshelf.

Tales of Men and Ghosts, by Edith Wharton (1910,) including Afterward, the story we're reading this month.
..."

Good one, Rochelle. If you haven't, please do add it to the shelf! Gracias!

You chose On the Road with the Ramones? NOT within our time frame! I'm gonna start listing all the books on my TBR shelf! :P

I'm a bit surprised Victor Hugo's books are not on the bookshelf.

Nemo wrote: "I'm a bit surprised Victor Hugo's books are not on the bookshelf."

Feel free to add them under the "to-read" category. The bookshelf gets added to as books occur to various members. It's in a pretty embryonic state at this point.

Rochelle wrote: "You chose On the Road with the Ramones? NOT within our time frame! I'm gonna start listing all the books on my TBR shelf! :P"

Who added that, pray tell?

Rochelle wrote: "This thread needs some life, but I can't imagine we've omitted much from our bookshelf. "

My goodness. There are only 90 books on our bookshelf. Are you suggesting that there are only 90 books written between 1800 and 1910 worth including on our bookshelf? Heck, if we just include all of Dickens, Hardy and Trollope, we get pretty close to 90 right there!

I assume that somebody will remove the 'Ramones' book, posthaste!

Kate wrote: "Feel free to add them under the "to-read" category. The bookshelf gets added to as books occur to various members. ..."

I thought there was a specific reason that his books were excluded. He was a major literary figure in the 19th century, so one would expect to see at least one of his books on the shelf.

Nemo wrote: "Kate wrote: "Feel free to add them under the "to-read" category. The bookshelf gets added to as books occur to various members. ..."

I thought there was a specific reason that his books were excl..."

I can't imagine any reason whatsoever for excluding Hugo's works?

Christopher wrote: "I can't imagine any reason whatsoever for excluding Hugo's works?"

You never know. His books were once banned by the Catholic Church. Since I'm new to the group, I thought I'd better ask before venturing any recommendations. :)

Nemo wrote: "Christopher wrote: "I can't imagine any reason whatsoever for excluding Hugo's works?"

You never know. His books were once banned by the Catholic Church. Since I'm new to the group, I thought I'd ..."

In fact, I have the new (relatively so, anyway) translation of Les Miserables prepared by Julie Rose, and I am very much looking forward to reading it again soon.

Christopher wrote: "In fact, I have the new (relatively so, anyway) translation of Les Miserables prepared by Julie Rose, and I am very much looking forward to reading it again soon."

Les Miserables is a great book. I'd also recommend The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Ninety-Three, The Man Who Laughs and The Toilers of the Sea. And if you like back comedy, The Last Day of a Condemned Man.

Question on adding books to the shelf: Is it all right to add non-fiction books from that period too? I was thinking about adding Thoreau's Walden.

Certainly! Please feel free to do so!

May I suggest adding a "Victor Hugo" shelf? I don't seem to have permission to do that.

Everyman wrote: "My goodness. There are only 90 books on our bookshelf. Are you suggesting that there ar..."

It says Books We Recommend. So they have to be ones I read and LIKED."

Nemo wrote: "May I suggest adding a "Victor Hugo" shelf? I don't seem to have permission to do that."

I added one for you. I didn't add any books to it though.

Nemo wrote: "May I suggest adding a "Victor Hugo" shelf? I don't seem to have permission to do that."

I suggest adding the Hugo novels in with the other French authors on the "French Literature" shelf. I notice that there a goodly number of Hugos there already. ;-)

"Highly Recommended" is really a reduntant category. In fact, too many categories. I recommend American, British, Russian, French Lit, Short Stories, Poetry, Nonfiction. Much easier to find a book.


And I don't know where to find The Ramones again.

Why don't each of us regulars take one author who's
under-reported, and add him/her?

Kate wrote: "Nemo wrote: "May I suggest adding a "Victor Hugo" shelf? I don't seem to have permission to do that."

I added one for you. I didn't add any books to it though."

Can't we keep Hugo with the rest of the French authors? The next thing you know, we'll have a million shelves. I suppose it doesn't matter, but...

Christopher wrote: "Kate wrote: "Nemo wrote: "May I suggest adding a "Victor Hugo" shelf? I don't seem to have permission to do that."

I added one for you. I didn't add any books to it though."

Can't we keep Hugo w..."

Actually the more shelves, the more ways there are to sort the books. In a few of my other groups that has been very useful. One group has 2k books shelved! The real trick is getting people to enter as much information as possible in the first place.

Kate wrote: "Nemo wrote: "May I suggest adding a "Victor Hugo" shelf? I don't seem to have permission to do that."

I added one for you. I didn't add any books to it though."

Thanks, Kate. I added 6 books to that shelf. I read and liked all of them. Though being a Hugo fan (you might say junkie), I may be biased.

The more shelves, the harder it is to FIND a book.

Christopher wrote: "I suggest adding the Hugo novels in with the other French authors on the "French Literature" shelf. I notice that there a goodly number of Hugos there already. ;-) ."

Yeah, I just added 6 books to shelves "To Read", "French Literature" and "Victor Hugo".

Rochelle wrote: "The more shelves, the harder it is to FIND a book."

Not really. The shelves are tags. They aren't mutually exclusive. So Hugo should show up under both the Victor Hugo shelf and the French Literature shelf. As well as under the To Read shelf, for that matter. The only mutually exclusive shelves are To-Read, Currently Reading and Read.

You guys are all behind the times. :P The Librarians are going to start classifying books this way (quoted from their group.) I love the part about "how does the book make you feel?" We can also now classify by "fast reading" or "slow." I replied that you can't formulate a book like a recipe, but it fell on the deaf ears of a 20-year old.

Case study: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

* Is this book fiction or non-fiction?: fiction
* What is the genre for this book?: mystery, thriller, crime, suspense
* Is it good for bookclubs?: yes
* subjects: hackers, journalists, sweden, murder, serial killer (spoiler!), raper, violence against women (violence, women), finance, scandal, investigation, incest (spoiler), corporations
* Setting: Sweden, Scandinavia, Stockholm, Hedestad
* Era: 2000-ish
* Scope: 1 year
* Plot pace: fast
* Time to read: fast
* Reading speed: fast (this attribute is overlap with the above, and I recommend not doing it)
* Writing style: descriptive, suspenseful, straightforward, expository
* Mood/how does this book make you feel: dark, sinister, forefoding, suspenseful, sexy, scary
* original language: swedish
* Strong female character: yes
* Strong male character: yes
* POV: 3rd person omniscient
* tense: past tense
* literary devices: locked room, flashback, shifting perspective
* ending:

Rochelle wrote: "You guys are all behind the times. :P The Librarians are going to start classifying books this way (quoted from their group.) I love the part about "how does the book make you feel?" We can also no..."

You have to be kidding me!!! What a recipe for disaster.

And who answers all those questions??? Because there seems to be just a tad bit of subjectivity involved.

Kate wrote: "Rochelle wrote: "The more shelves, the harder it is to FIND a book."

Not really. The shelves are tags. They aren't mutually exclusive. So Hugo should show up under both the Victor Hugo shelf an..."

But if I'm just looking for, for example, "an interesting novel to read this week" I have to wade through 2 dozen shelves.

Kate wrote: "Rochelle wrote: "You guys are all behind the times. :P The Librarians are going to start classifying books this way (quoted from their group.) I love the part about "how does the book make you feel..."
You have to be kidding me!!! What a recipe for disaster. And who answers all those questions??? Because there seems to be just a tad bit of subjectivity involved.

That's what they're doing, but luckily it will be on a tab below the main entry, so we don't have to look.
They're going to pre-digest all the books so if, god-forbid, you find one that might make you think, or doesn't have a strong male character, you can avoid it in advance. My protests were useless.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

This is part of Web 2, the crowdsourcing of the internet. Everyone's opinion is equal, and all sources of information are equally valid. That's why I DO NOT write reviews on this site, except within my groups.

Some people DO find their books that way. They read every sci-fi in a series, or every romance. There appear to be thousands of series now to satisfy this. The Librarians are going to cater to the least common denominator.

I see it now:
"Crime and Punishment
Speed: very slow
Strong male character--no
Any romance involved--No
Ending..."

Getting back to our own list: It's just a list.

If were looking, let's say, for a Victor Hugo book, and clicked Hunchback (let's presume it's new to me,)as it stands now (ignoring the new database to come) Listopia just gives me a short summary, publication date and view of various editions, and prices. Has it really added to my knowledge of that book? Has it helped me decide if I want to read it? I still have to go out on the net and do research.

But suppose our books were linked to an article in a literary magazine or a newspaper or a literary site, one that gave us real insight into the book? Yes, i know this involves work, but it's just a conjecture.

Bottom line: as it stands now, our list is no better than Listopia boiled down to our time period. Which is maybe why no one's checked to see that every good book is on it.

I'm doing Dickens now.

Have any of you read Peter Carey's new novel, Parrot and Olivier In America yet? I very much want to read this. I think it was a 2010 Booker Short-List book too. Jan, have you read this, per chance?

Oh, sorry, here's the GR link to the novel Parrot and Olivier in America

Rochelle wrote: "I see it now:
"Crime and Punishment
Speed: very slow
Strong male character--no
Any romance involved--No
Ending..." "

I cringe in anticipation. More of the weird mindset that says if you can label and quantify something it has more value. Or, if I am being ungenerous, more of the mindset that wants to take zero risks and be very very sure they know what to expect from every well labeled package. meh.

I think it applies particularly to books and other media. Many of the Librarians are very young, and read mostly formula books. Catch the booklist of the guy who's running this. I hope they keep their promise of having it all on an unseen tab.

I was invited to a new database of movies they're setting up. They wanted it on GR, but were turned down, and have started their own site. I said IMDB is fine, except that I never read the reviews by the public. Kid says "but you can tell everybody what restaurant you're at, what you're reading, what you're watching on TV." It's the Facebook syndrome. I said, "Pardon me while I read the NYTimes Book Review and their movie database.

What's meh?

Do I have to cross-reference Dickens with Brit Lit? how do I do that? I've never used tags.

Do we have any opinions as to whether our bookshelf should offer more than just the Listopia lists?

Rochelle wrote: "Do I have to cross-reference Dickens with Brit Lit? how do I do that? I've never used tags."

Really it's just a matter of check marking all the "shelves" that apply to the book in question. If it's Dickens, that would include "Dickens" "British Lit" and "Victorian Era".

The book will then show up if someone looks at any of those individual shelves.

"meh" is an interjection implying indifference, a verbal shrug if you will.

Like Feh!

Is this a good place to get feedback for our reviews?

Nemo wrote: "Christopher wrote: "I can't imagine any reason whatsoever for excluding Hugo's works?"

You never know. His books were once banned by the Catholic Church. "

I suspect that at least half the members of this group, if not many more, either are wearing, as I am right now, or would be happy to wear an "I Read Banned Books" button. Mine came from the library in celebration of Banned Books Month (or week, not sure which), as part of their display of banned books.

Of course, I don't read ALL banned books -- there are a few books which are banned for very good reasons. See, e.g., Lawrence, D.H.

Rochelle wrote: "KBut if I'm just looking for, for example, "an interesting novel to read this week" I have to wade through 2 dozen shelves.
"

Nope. Just three maximum, and really only one. Every book in the library is on either the to-read, the currently reading, or the read shelf. Since you know what is on the currently reading shelf, and presumably what is on the read shelf (or you can skim that quickly), all you need to do is go to the to-read shelf and scan down the list (I prefer to change the default 20 books per screen to 100 books per screen so I don't have to keep moving forward pages as often. Unfortunately this isn't a default you can set for yourself, but need to reset it each time you open the library, unless I'm missing something).

Rochelle wrote: "You guys are all behind the times. :P The Librarians are going to start classifying books this way (quoted from their group.) I love the part about "how does the book make you feel?" We can also no..."

This had bloomin' well be optional.

Rochelle wrote: "I see it now:
"Crime and Punishment
Speed: very slow
Strong male character--no "

Actually, we could have some fun with this if we wanted to waste the time.

Twilight:


* Is this book fiction or non-fiction?: non-fiction.
* What is the genre for this book?: True Story
* Is it good for bookclubs?: no
* subjects: Small town, high school, woods and forests, Washington State politics
* Setting: Backwoods small town
* Era: 2000-ish
* Scope: About 2,000 years
* Plot pace: very slow
* Time to read: months
* Reading speed: very slow, with frequent pauses to loose one's last meal
* Writing style: Ponderous
* Mood/how does this book make you feel: bored out of my mind
* original language: American, with vague hints of English
* Strong female character: no - total wimp
* Strong male character: no
* POV: Very confused
* tense: past tense
* literary devices: None. Author apparently doesn't know what "literary" means.
* ending: Been reading steadily for three months and haven't gotten there yet

Everyman wrote: "Actually, we could have some fun with this if we wanted to waste the time.

Twilight:


* Is this ..."

Oh you have a very evil mind. :D

But did you really try to read these?!! They're kind of awful. I mean I read lots of fun garbage, but Twilight doesn't even meet my admittedly low standards.

Kate wrote: "Oh you have a very evil mind. :D

Why, thank you. :)

But did you really try to read these?!! ..."

Good gracious, of course not.

Everyman wrote: "I suspect that at least half the members of this group, if not many more, either are wearing, as I am right now, or would be happy to wear an "I Read Banned Books" button."

Banned books may be more interesting if only because of the strong reaction they elicited. On the other hand, as Victor Hugo put it, "People do not read stupidities with impunity". I wonder whether there are books that should be banned just for the sake of our mental health.